Retail analytics provides the clearest insights into customer behaviour, which is crucial to any supply chain. In Africa, these supply chains can use it to analyze and predict their customers to serve them better.
The retail arm of any distribution network is the arm which interacts with customers the most. Retailers know what the customer needs or expects and are responsible for closing the customer on the available goods.
With retail analytics, African supply chains can achieve the following.
1. Process improvement
With retail analytics, you have an in-depth understanding of what the customer expects, which helps optimize and improve the operation and process of the supply chains. This way, your supply chain can better cater to the customers’ needs.
If they need faster delivery, you can optimize your supply chain for that. If they need cheaper products, you can innovate and find solutions to make it possible. Using this trend, you can also improve order fulfilment, reduce errors, and ensure effective product returns.
With retail analytics, your customers can get better services, which makes them loyal to your supply chain. You can also
2. Supplier selection
Suppliers are an essential part of any supply chain management operation. They are external stakeholders that can leverage their resources and expertise to ensure the supply chain is being run well.
A wrong move can impact the entire operation because they are critical to the supply chain. It can also lead to downtimes or the development of wrong features the customer doesn’t want.
This is where supplier selection comes into play. With retail analytics, you have insights into the type of supplier your supply chain needs to ensure customers get what they want. It could be speed, quality, or some other feature.
3. Customer segmentation
Customers respond differently to products. A customer in a cold environment will want warm clothes that could help generate heat. On the other hand, a customer in a hot environment will want light clothes to help prevent heat.
This is where retail analytics helps the supply chain segment its customers for the different products they have. Customer segmentation is vital in demand forecasting and helps the supply chain improve customer satisfaction.
It will also help businesses properly plan their supply chain and marketing strategies to ensure each customer gets what they need.
4. Inventory optimization
The inventory is the most important part of the supply chain. Without inventory, there might as well be no supply chain management. Optimizing it will improve the supply chain throughput because of its importance to the supply chain.
And this is where retail analytics helps with the inventory. Through data-driven insights, retail analytics can help optimize inventory levels.
The supply chain might decide to switch its inventory model from push to pull or vice versa. It could also switch from any of them to a just-in-time inventory model. With retail analytics, your supply chain can manage the inventory better and adapt better strategies.
5. Return management
Product returns are fast becoming an essential component of the supply chain. It is through retail analytics that you will be able to optimize it. Customers tend to return products because of errors, defects, or lack of satisfaction from product use.
Retail analytics give supply chains insight into what the issue is. With that, you can optimize the supply chain to correct that issue. In cases where you cannot help it, you can also optimize the product return process for efficiency.
Obinabo Tochukwu Tabansi is an ex-supply chain professional turned ghostwriter with a decade of experience working in different facets of the supply chain. Today, he lives his passion for writing on all things supply chain and helping clients from across the globe communicate their thoughts and solutions seamlessly. His blog, Supply Chain Nuggets, is Africa’s fastest-rising supply chain blog, helping professionals, business owners, and curious minds navigate the continent’s complexities.
